Derek Jeter’s Yankees aren’t even New York’s most ‘popular’ team

Now that our naughty little tryst with soccer has come to an end, and Teutonic power has rightfully been restored, it’s time to flop back into American sports.

And all due respect to the other leagues, our true love affair is with our own version of football, where a bone better be sticking out before the stretcher is called.

This Ticket City map illustrating each state’s most popular team — if popularity can fairly be determined by Google searches over a two-year period — hammers that point home.

NFL teams come out on top for search frequency in 32 states. Specifically, the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks claim four states each. The Bears, Broncos and Vikings three apiece. Even a college team sneaked in there with the Razorbacks in Arkansas.

Most of these picks make plenty of sense, but not all. The Super Bowl punchline Buffalo Bills are New York state’s most searched team, beating out the Yankees, Giants, Mets and Knicks? What puts the awful Raiders in California ahead of the Dodgers, Giants and, of course, 49ers? The Bears are tops in Indiana?

Fertile ground for smack talk.

As for baseball, the national pastime earned its share of states (with MLB teams most often searched in 10 states), mostly in the East, where the Red Sox, Pirates and Braves claim two states each. Basketball teams led the way in just five states, including Florida with the newly LeBron James–less Heat.

The Boston Bruins were the only National Hockey League team to appear, earning the most-searched spot in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

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